


Good Cop, Bad Cop

by Pargoletta



Category: Death Note
Genre: Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-24
Updated: 2011-05-23
Packaged: 2017-10-19 18:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/203975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pargoletta/pseuds/Pargoletta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the occasion of Misa's arrest, Light sees an opportunity to vanquish L once and for all. But complicated plans have a way of turning out to be unexpectedly fragile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Speculation

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own _Death Note_ , nor any dramatic incarnations thereof. No profit is being made from this work.
> 
> Note: Welcome to my first crack at writing for Death Note! Writing for an anime fandom was the last thing I ever thought I'd do, but an idea came, and a friend encouraged it, so there you have it. I ended up watching Death Note mostly in English dub, primarily because that was what was available to me, so the names are written as I heard them for most of the series. The given name comes first, then the family name. I hope that doesn't bother anyone too much.
> 
> There are a few direct quotes from the show in this chapter – L's speech right at the beginning, and then a brief bit of dialogue about halfway through. After that, though, the story takes a very different turn, branching off from Episode 15 "Wager," and showing a different solution to the problem of Kira. It does get rather dark towards the end of the story, which is in four chapters. Fair warning. . .

**1\. Speculation**

* * *

"I'm not exactly sure how you'll take this," L said, in the same mildly friendly monotone that he had used ever since Light had met him, "but regarding Misa Amane, there's something you should know. We've taken her into custody under suspicion of being the second Kira."

Light's expression did not change, but the bottom dropped out of his stomach, and a chill seemed to sweep over the sunny quad at To-Oh University. He wondered vaguely how L had learned about him and Misa, and how long L had had that information. L seemed not to notice Light's distress, but continued speaking, as calmly as if he were discussing the weather.

"We gathered physical evidence from the envelopes that were sent by the second Kira," he said. "In particular, we recovered hairs and fibers from the masking tape used to seal them. They matched what we found in Misa's room. There would be a public uproar if it gets out that she's been apprehended as the second Kira, so, officially, we've charged her manager with drug possession, and she's a voluntary witness. But I doubt any of this will get out."

L paused, as if waiting for Light to agree with him and offer suggestions to refine his plan. After a few seconds of increasingly awkward silence, L gave a little shrug. "It must come as a shock to you to hear that your girlfriend has been taken into custody," he said. "I suppose this means our plans for a snack are off; to tell the truth, I rather expected that this would happen. I'm going to go and see if the cafeteria has any strawberry shortcake left. I'll need to build up my strength for the interrogation."

With that, L closed his cell phone, shoved it back in the pocket of his grubby blue jeans, and continued his slow shuffle towards the cafeteria building. After a few steps, he paused, as if he had forgotten something important. "You can still join me for cake if you want, Light," he said. "After all, I suppose you are my friend, and I suppose that a friend would want to help a friend during a time of stress."

With an effort, Light tore himself away from his visions of his own body toppling from the crumbling tower of his intricate, fragile plans, and managed to focus on L's pale face. "No thanks, Ryuga," he heard his own voice say. "I'm sure that you and my father will take good care of Misa. There's nothing I can do about it, and I have class in half an hour. I'll – I'll meet you at the task force after Economics."

Quickly, before his shock and consternation could leak onto his face for L to see, Light turned on his heel and headed for the Social Sciences building. Though his thoughts were racing, he forced his body to move at its normal, easy walk. Part of what he had told L was true; there was precisely nothing that he could do about Misa at the moment. The only thing to do was to sit in the lecture hall and listen to his instructor drone on about Veblen or Keynes or Galbraith, or whoever the subject of the day happened to be. The lecture would give him time to think, and his attendance would only strengthen the façade of the dutiful university student that was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

Kiyomi Takada met Light at the door to the lecture hall, and took her usual seat next to him. That was good; Light could always beg copies of her lecture notes afterwards, claiming to have been distracted by the beautiful weather outside. He vaguely heard the professor mention the name of Adam Smith, and then he tuned the lecture out. He thought that he heard Ryuk snickering behind his back, but ignored the shinigami and focused his thoughts on the immediate future.

* * *

As soon as the lecture was over, Light gathered his books and strode out of the lecture hall. He brushed off Takada's invitation to have tea and pastries at one of the campus snack bars, and hurried to catch the first bus to the headquarters of the Kira Task Force. The fifteen-minute ride seemed to last for an eternity, but Light made himself stand still for a few seconds after he had gotten off the bus. It was important to bury his apprehension and dismay as deep inside his mind as he could, so that he could arrive in the task force room with the same cool, relaxed appearance that he had displayed every day so far. Currently, L seemed to be the only person on the task force who entertained serious suspicion that Light could be Kira, and Light intended to keep things that way for as long as possible.

The current hotel was a mid-priced tourist shelter, a franchise operation staffed with bored employees in ugly polyester uniforms who did not even look up when Light sauntered through the lobby. He rode the elevator to the top floor of the hotel, then headed for the door of the executive suite, which L had commandeered for the Kira investigation. He pulled his key card from his wallet, and was about to slip it into the slot in the door, when he heard voices arguing inside the suite. Curious, Light paused to listen before making his entrance.

" _Ryuzaki, what's the meaning of this?"_ his father's voice demanded.

" _I've apprehended her on suspicion of being the second Kira. I'm afraid this is necessary."_ L's voice was as calm as always.

" _Chances are, Amane is guilty,"_ his father replied. _"There seems to be enough evidence to convict her. But all the same. . . "_

" _Yes, there can be no mistake. Now we need a confession out of her. We need to know how she kills, whether she knows Kira, and if so, who he really is. Watari, take the necessary precautions, but beyond that, you're free to do whatever has to be done, okay? Just make her speak."_

It was too much. Light didn't know Misa especially well, but he knew her well enough to guess that she would not hold out for long under whatever strange interrogation methods L and Watari had up their sleeves. He had to observe the interrogation himself, for he could only make plans to evade capture if he knew precisely what Misa would say.

Despite Light's best efforts, his hands shook a little, and he fumbled the key card on his first attempt to fit it into the slot. He muttered a soft curse as he knelt to retrieve it. On the second try, the card slipped into the slot, and the lock clicked open. Light took a deep breath to steady himself, and opened the door to the executive suite.

L sat crouched in a chair, staring at a computer screen in the darkened suite. He did not look up or turn around when Light opened the door. "Good, you're here, Light," he said. "Why don't you join us? We're just about to start questioning Miss Amane."

Light blinked in the sudden gloom. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw his father and Detectives Matsuda and Aizawa standing in a loose ring around L's chair. Their faces showed varying degrees of horror and astonishment, and Light guessed that L had taken them by surprise as much as he had done with Light himself.

"Dad, what's going on?" Light asked, as he made his way somewhat gingerly to his father's side.

Chief Yagami immediately moved to block Light's view of L's computer, then swept his son into a sudden embrace. "Light . . . my son. Perhaps it's better if you don't see this. I keep forgetting that you're not a full officer, just a university student."

"Dad, what is it? I have to see." Light extracted himself from his father's unexpected embrace as gracefully as he could.

"Yes, I agree. Light should watch this." L's voice drifted over the back of his chair and froze Yagami where he stood.

"Very well," Yagami replied. He stood aside and allowed Light to peer over L's shoulder at the glowing computer screen.

The fuzzy image showed Misa Amane, her eyes covered with an opaque metal shield, her fashionable black minidress replaced by a shabby straitjacket, strapped to a dolly in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. She appeared to be all alone, the picture of misery. Light's throat closed, and he choked in horror at the sight. There was no way that vivacious, gregarious Misa would ever be able to keep his secret like this. "You can't do that," he protested, cursing himself even as he spoke for the tremor in his voice.

"Light is right!" Aizawa's stern declaration distracted everyone perfectly. Light frantically tried to gather his scattered wits as Aizawa spoke. "This is inhumane. Ryuzaki, do you really think you'll be able to get a confession out of her before she goes mad? And even if you do get a confession, do you really think it'll stand up in court?"

L turned his wide eyes to meet Aizawa's. "Watari is good at what he does. He'll have her talking in a few days."

"A few days?" Aizawa's eyes bulged. "You can't expect me to believe that you intend to keep her here for days!"

"I'll do whatever has to be done to get her to speak," L replied.

"Do as Ryuzaki says," Yagami said quietly. "We've got to have that confession."

"No!" Everyone jumped, and even Light was surprised at the vehemence in his outburst. He took a quick breath to bring himself under control once more. "Aizawa has a point, Dad."

"What do you mean?"

Light glanced at the image of Misa on the computer screen, and inspiration struck. "The Kira case isn't just any homicide, Dad," Light said. "The FBI came to Japan – remember Ray Penbar?" A little thrill of warmth shot through Light as he remembered the look of betrayed comprehension in Penbar's eyes just before the doors of the train had shut between them, releasing Light from Penbar's scrutiny forever. "The Kira case has gone international. It's probably even part of the War on Terror by now."

Light wasn't sure where that had come from, but it made just enough sense. Light had struck terror into the hearts of the Japanese people with his notebook, hadn't he? Didn't that make him a terrorist? The idea sent another warm thrill through him, and he had to struggle to keep his expression serious and focused.

Matsuda looked vaguely sick, but Aizawa and Yagami exchanged a thoughtful nod. "The whole world will be watching," Aizawa said slowly. "We can show them that Japanese can catch terrorists by due process of law, that our justice system can do what that – that cowboy in the American White House cannot."

"Especially after that report from Amnesty International last year," Yagami said slowly. "We'll be laughed at by every other country in the world if we conduct a secret, elaborate interrogation of a Kira suspect and fail to get a confession."

"We don't want to give Misa too much attention," Light broke in, eager to steer the subject back to his immediate problem. "She's a model, Dad. She thrives on attention and show business. The one thing she fears most of all is being treated as an ordinary girl, a nobody. Take away the drama, and she'll collapse, she'll tell you everything!"

"Ye-es. Much as I hate to admit this, I may have made a mistake." L's soft monotone nevertheless managed to convey an order for everyone else to pretend that he hadn't. "Light may be onto something there. I suppose it's because he gets along with . . . girls better than I do."

That might well have been the understatement of the century, but Light let it slide. There were more important things to consider, and L was still speaking.

"We should do this by the book," he said, speaking as much to himself as to the detectives in the room. "If we question her as though she were nothing but an ordinary thief, she'll probably be so insulted that she'll confess to being Kira in the hopes that we'll increase our security procedures . . . perhaps even bind her again . . . she seems to like that . . ."

This time, Light didn't even have to become indignant. His father did it for him. "Ryuzaki, you will treat my son's girlfriend with respect, at least until she has confessed to being the second Kira!"

L didn't even blink. "Of course. My apologies, Light, Chief Yagami. Now, as I was saying –"

"Wait!" Matsuda's voice cracked, and he hastily cleared his throat. "Aren't we forgetting something here? I mean, this second Kira can kill you just by seeing your face. If we interrogate her openly, she could kill the questioner right there!"

"But killing her questioner would be as good as admitting that she was the second Kira," Light replied hastily. "Amane may not be as bright as the original Kira, but surely she's not quite that stupid." He sincerely hoped that the last part was true.

L nodded. "I agree." He pressed a button on the base of a microphone that sat on the table in front of him. "Watari, please abort the current interrogation procedure, and make arrangements to move Miss Amane to the police detention center." He clicked off the intercom and turned back to the assembled task force. "Will the police detention center suffice?"

Yagami nodded. L brushed shortcake crumbs off his shirt.

"Good. Now, all we need to do is to decide who will interrogate Misa Amane."

Light's ears pricked up. Perhaps the battle was not lost after all. L had just handed him the perfect opportunity to snatch a few precious minutes alone with Misa, perhaps even to find out what she knew without the police ever catching on. "I'll do it," he said. "I'll volunteer to question her. After all, she knows me, and she'll be more likely to talk to someone she . . . cares about."

"No, Light!" Both L and Yagami spoke together.

Yagami gave an embarrassed cough, then continued alone. "We'll be interrogating Misa Amane strictly by the book, Light. That means that no one except a full police officer can conduct the interview. Believe me, it's not that I don't want you on this interrogation. It's just that I have no choice."

"Besides," L added, "you're still my prime suspect for the original Kira. It wouldn't look very good to have the original Kira questioning the second Kira, would it? Any information that we would gain from such an interview would be completely worthless."

He was good, Light had to give him that. In fact, Light often found himself admitting that, despite being L's mortal enemy and firmly committed to the cause of seeing him dead in what he hoped would be the very near future, L was the most interesting person he had ever encountered. He could see that there was an intelligence very close to equaling his own lurking behind L's blank, sunken eyes, and there was something else as well. Somewhere, deep behind layers of eccentricity and silence, there was a personality almost begging to be unfolded.

Light nearly laughed as he shook himself back to the present. Really, L was far more fascinating than Misa, and what he wouldn't give to see . . .

"Why don't you interrogate her, Ryuzaki?" he asked. "I mean, you were about to do it anyway, and –"

L shook his head, and Light found that his words dried up in his mouth. "I prefer not to get so . . . intimately involved with my cases," L explained. "I find that I do my best work when I observe from a distance. Besides, your father wants a police officer to conduct the interview, and I'm just a simple civilian."

That was true, and Light silently cursed himself for having forgotten it. But L had commanded the task force for so long, and with such authority, that he often seemed more like a police officer than some of the task force members, including –

"Matsuda!" The junior detective's head jerked up at the sound of his name, and Light rejoiced inwardly at the brilliance of his latest idea. Trusting and credulous, Matsuda was someone he could easily manipulate into finding a way to ensure Misa's release with all of her and Light's secrets intact. "Matsuda's a sworn police officer. He could conduct the interview."

"Matsuda?" Aizawa's voice practically dripped scorn. For a moment, Light wondered if Aizawa had been hoping to be the one selected to interrogate Misa himself.

Both L and Yagami appeared to give this suggestion some serious consideration. "It could work," L mused, speaking half to himself and half to the rest of the task force. "Matsuda is young and handsome. It's entirely possible that Misa would respond to him for the same reasons that she would respond to Light."

Except that Matsuda hadn't been the one to avenge Misa's murdered parents, but Light let that observation slide. Yagami was stroking his mustache and nodding his agreement with L.

"I certainly can't interrogate her, since she's my son's girlfriend," Yagami said. "There can be no hint of impropriety about this interview. Matsuda has no personal connection to Amane, but I trust both of you when you say that she might respond well to him. We cannot allow ourselves to forget the primary goal of this interrogation. We must not only get a confession from Amane, but we must find out everything she knows about the real Kira. Matsuda, you will conduct the interrogation of suspect Misa Amane, beginning tomorrow morning at 0800."

Matsuda snapped to a passable approximation of attention. "Y – Yes sir!" he replied.

Light allowed himself a tiny smile. All he had to do was to find some way to feed Matsuda and Misa hints during the interrogation, and his identity as Kira would be safe forever.

"One more thing, Light." L suddenly turned wide, opaque eyes on him. "I'd like to have your impressions of the interview to supplement my own. I propose that we observe the questioning together, from beginning to end."

Light bit the inside of his mouth, hard, to avoid letting his frustration show on his face. "Sure, Ryuzaki," he said. "That's a great idea. In fact, I'd be honored to watch the world's greatest detective at work."

"Then it's settled," L said. He leaned forward and pressed the intercom button. "Watari, please ensure that Misa Amane is present in the police detention center at 0800 tomorrow morning."

Yagami nodded smartly, as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. "Right. Well, we've all got our jobs to do. Matsuda, perhaps you'd better go home and read up on interrogation procedures."

"Yes sir!" Matsuda actually saluted, then turned and marched out of the door.

Yagami gave his son a broad smile. "I think we're finally about to crack the Kira case, son," he said. "Come on. Let's go home. I'm sure your mother has something nice prepared for dinner, and I haven't seen Sayu in far too long."

Light nodded abstractedly and followed his father out of the executive suite. He paid no attention to Yagami's words. Instead, his mind worked furiously, trying to come up with a way to feed Misa answers for the interrogation tomorrow morning.

As Light followed his father out of the hotel, he took an apple from the basket of complimentary fruit set out at the front desk. He waited until he heard the distinctive swish of leathery wings behind him, then carefully passed the apple back to Ryuk. He did not turn to look at the shinigami, nor did he dignify Ryuk's hollow snickering with an answer.


	2. Speculation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **2\. Interrogation**

**2\. Interrogation**

* * *

Although Misa's interrogation was not scheduled to begin until 0800, most of the task force had assembled at the detention center by 0715. Matsuda was the last to arrive, freshly shaved, and sporting what was clearly his best suit in what struck Light as a pathetically obvious attempt to impress Misa. Matsuda joined the rest of the task force in the interrogation room selected for the event, and he was unable to stifle a gasp as he looked at his surroundings.

"I'm to work in here?" he choked out. "Incredible!" His gaze fell on a large mirror embedded into the wall, and he approached it slowly, almost entranced. "Is that –"

"It's a one-way mirror, yes," L said. "An observer can see into the room, but the suspect can't see out. I thought it would help me with my observations. Light and Chief Yagami will also be joining me on the other side of the mirror."

Matsuda stepped out into the adjoining observation room to see the effect for himself. Aizawa, who had done the same thing ten minutes earlier, turned to Yagami with an impressed nod. "I didn't even know that the police station had a room like this, Chief."

"It's new," Yagami explained. "We just had it installed a few weeks ago as part of a national experiment with more open interrogation procedures. Only a few other prefectures in the country have them right now."

Light stepped outside into the antechamber where he would observe the proceedings with his father and L. Matsuda stood in the middle of the darkened room, his hands in his pockets, gazing at the activity in the interrogation room through what was now a tinted window. Light flashed him a quick smile, then pressed a button on the intercom unit that hung next to the window. Yagami's voice crackled over the speaker.

" _NPA Headquarters thought that it would be a good idea to test these new measures on the worst criminals we could find, to see if they work as well as the foreign agencies tell us they will."_

" _And if it doesn't?"_ Aizawa asked.

Yagami shrugged. _"Then I suppose that we will simply turn the interrogation back over to L."_

Light released the button, and turned to Matsuda. "We'll be able to hear everything that you talk about with Misa," he said. "So you'll have witnesses to make sure that you don't force a confession out of her or anything like that."

It was hard to tell in the dim light, but Light thought that Matsuda's face grew a little paler. That was excellent. A frightened Matsuda was a Matsuda who would not press Misa overly hard. "Maybe you could give me a few pointers?" Matsuda ventured. "I didn't like to mention this in front of the Chief, but this will be my first interrogation. And you know Misa better than I do. How would you suggest talking to her?"

This just kept getting better and better. Light pretended to consider Matsuda's question for a moment. "Well, she's very sensitive to people, so don't get angry at her or she'll cry. Just . . . be yourself. If she seems shy, tell her you know me. She likes to talk to people about me." The mention of Light's name would probably remind Misa of their ultimate goal, so that she would remain quiet. It seemed like a useful reminder to give her. And then there was just one more seed he had to plant.

"Oh, and Matsuda? One more thing. If Misa really is the second Kira, then I think she must have some weird way of knowing who people are."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She only needs a person's face to kill, remember? And that day we went to Aoyama? She claimed that she could pick the original Kira out of a crowd. In fact, I bet she probably knows who L is."

"You think so?"

Light nodded. "I'm sure of it. In fact, you could probably prove that Misa is the second Kira just by getting her to reveal that piece of information." And then Light would make up an excuse about having to visit the restroom, and head for home as fast as possible, to kill L and win their game before anyone could make the connection between Misa's killer hobby and his own. It was too bad what would happen to Misa, but . . .

"Thanks, Light!" Matsuda said, a relieved grin spreading over his face. "You're a real pal, you know that? Seriously, you should consider joining the police when you're finished with university."

Light arranged his face into a smile, not quite sure how to respond to that. Fortunately, Matsuda spared him that decision. Matsuda glanced down at his watch and gave a nervous start.

"Oh my, it's 0740 already! Gotta run, there's an errand that I have to do before the interrogation starts. I'll see you later, Light! Well, I won't see you, but I'll know that you'll be on the other side of the glass!"

With that, Matsuda scurried away, leaving Light alone in the observation room. He looked through the one-way mirror at L and the police performing a final inspection of the interrogation room, and allowed his false smile to melt into a very real, very feral grin of pure triumph.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, L, Light, and Yagami convened in Yagami's office, so that Misa would not see their faces when she was brought into the interrogation room. Matsuda had not returned from his errand, and Light could see that his father was growing anxious, though he hid it well. L sat crouched in a chair, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Light preferred to stand, watching the bustle of the police station through the window in the office door.

Suddenly, Matsuda burst in, panting and sweating. A plastic shopping bag dangled from his hand. He paused, and tried to finger-comb his hair back into place as he caught his breath. Yagami rose from his desk and strode out to meet him, with Light and L trailing in his wake.

"It's a good thing you're back, Matsuda," Yagami said. "It's almost time, and we can't start this without you."

"Sorry, chief. There was a line at the store." Matsuda held up his shopping bag as if this could corroborate his excuse.

Yagami glanced at the bag, then dismissed Matsuda's story. "Listen closely, Matsuda. We don't have much time before we have to begin, and there are some last-minute instructions. The entire task force is counting on you. You have to get Amane to confess, and I want that confession in twenty-four hours."

Matsuda gulped. "Twenty-four hours?"

Yagami sighed. "We took her into custody yesterday, in public, so we can't deny it. In twenty-four hours I have to call a prosecutor, explain the case to a judge, or release her, and I don't want to have to release her. Is that understood?"

"Y – Yes, sir!"

"Good. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

Matsuda looked nervous, but plucked up his courage. "Chief, you know I'm as committed to catching Kira as any other man on the task force. I know the risk I'm taking in interviewing Amane. But . . . if she is the second Kira, and if she does kill me during the interrogation, will you send a message to my parents?"

Yagami's expression softened. "Of course. I'll send a personal letter along with the official notification. But I really don't think that will be necessary."

As he spoke, Watari entered the station, his dark morning coat looking both absurdly out of place in a police station and perfectly fitting on such a proper gentleman. He carried a cardboard mailing box, which he set down on a table and slit open with a pocket knife. He extracted a bright yellow electronic device from the packing material and set it on the table. Despite himself, Light was intrigued.

"What's that?" he asked.

"A gift, sir," Watari answered. "From a chap named Pennyworth, an old school chum of mine who now works in America. He heard about our troubles with Kira, and asked his employer to purchase this to assist us. It's an automatic external defibrillator, and it's said to be useful in rescuing victims of heart attacks. I hear that they are quite popular in America. One does not even need to be trained in their use." He searched around until he found the manual, then carried the AED into the observation room.

L gave one of his unintentionally disconcerting smiles. "That's very good," he said. "Now Matsuda can question Amane without having to worry if she does give him a heart attack."

Matsuda didn't look entirely convinced, but he nodded sharply. "A – All right, Chief," he said. "I'm ready to go."

"Good." Yagami clapped his hands for attention. All the police officers in the room either retreated into offices or turned their faces away. Yagami herded L and Light back into his office, and pressed the intercom button. "Bring out the suspect," he ordered.

A moment later, a masked female officer escorted Misa through the station room. Misa's shabby straitjacket had been replaced by a simple gray shirt and trousers, a utility outfit that the police kept for suspects or victims whose clothing had been ruined. The officer deposited Misa in the interrogation room, then returned and gave Yagami a salute. Yagami emerged from his office and gave Matsuda a small tape recorder that he had taken from his desk.

"Make sure this is recording before you start questioning her," he ordered. "Remember, everything has to be by the book."

"Yes, sir!"

With that, L and Light followed Yagami into the observation room, and Matsuda, with a final brave smile, carried the tape recorder and his shopping bag into the interrogation room, where a lovely, charming, potentially deadly teenage girl awaited him.

* * *

Light had to admit that the interrogation procedure was interesting in and of itself, regardless of the risk it posed to him. As a child, he had always been fascinated by his father's tales of extracting confessions from subjects, and this was the first time he had been allowed to see the process actually happening. He watched through the one-way mirror as Matsuda fumbled with the tape recorder a little before setting it to record. It occurred to him to wonder whether the fumbling was truly Matsuda's normal clumsiness or a way of communicating to Misa that their conversation was in fact being recorded.

Yagami reached out and pressed the intercom button, and the three observers leaned in to watch.

* * *

"Good morning!" Matsuda said, in the friendliest tone he could force out of his dry mouth. "My name is Detective Matsuda, and I'd like to ask you some questions, okay?"

"Okay!" Misa chirped.

Matsuda waited for a moment, and was mildly surprised that his heart continued to beat in a slightly faster version of its normal rhythm. Encouraged, he sat down at the table. "First of all, will you state your name for the record?"

"I'm Misa Amane. But my stage name is Misa Misa!"

Even in police utility clothes, Misa had a sparkle about her that Matsuda found attractive. Despite himself, he smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Misa Misa. Before we begin, may I apologize most sincerely for the treatment you endured yesterday?"

Misa giggled. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm just glad that the police were able to rescue me from that scary stalker!"

* * *

Light blinked in surprise, then remembered L's order to Watari to abort the previous interrogation procedure. He had to admit that Watari was good, if he had managed to extricate Misa and take her to the police station while convincing her that she had been in the clutches of a stalker all along. On the other side of the glass, Matsuda put his shopping bag on the table.

" _Well, you must be hungry after all that excitement. I don't know if you've had breakfast yet . . . would you like something to eat?"_ Matsuda pulled a small carton of green tea and a plastic-wrapped bun from the shopping bag. It was the sort of cheap snack that one could purchase at any corner convenience store, but Misa's eyes lit up when she saw the food.

" _My favorite!"_ she cried. _"How did you know?"_

Light couldn't see Matsuda's face from where he was sitting, but he didn't need to. Matsuda's shoulders slumped a little as he relaxed.

* * *

Matsuda watched, impressed, as Misa gobbled the bun down. He had always thought of models as people who ate lightly and delicately to maintain their figures, but then, Misa had been held in a straitjacket without any food for most of a day. When she had finished the bun and the tea, she glanced at the one-way mirror and patted a few loose strands of hair into place. Matsuda cleared his throat.

"Miss Amane . . . my apologies, this is going to sound silly. We're almost ready to let you go, but there's a small matter that we have to clear up first."

"Hm? What's that, Mr. Detective?"

Matsuda grinned, as if what he was about to say were so idiotic that no one with half a brain could possibly believe it. "While you were being held yesterday, the police received an accusation that – I know this is hard to believe, but someone actually accused you of being the second Kira!" He giggled, as if he himself could not believe his own words.

"Me?" Misa's perfectly trimmed eyebrows shot up, and a strange look of disbelief spread over her face. "Who could possibly accuse me of being the second Kira?"

"It's just a – a rumor, an allegation," Matsuda lied. "But we have to check it out, since it does involve Kira. All I really need you to do is to state truthfully, for the record, that you are not the second Kira, and then I can call a taxi to take you home."

Misa stared at him for a long moment, then abruptly folded her arms and turned her head away. "I don't have to tell you anything!" she snapped. "You're just as bad as that awful stalker. Honestly, isn't it enough that I had to spend hours tied up in that horrid basement? Now you have to harass me about being the second Kira, too?"

And in that instant, Matsuda was certain that she was the second Kira. He'd had his doubts, and he didn't want to believe that Light Yagami's girlfriend could possibly be a cold-hearted murderer. But her angry denial rang so false that he could no longer avoid facing the truth. Misa was the second Kira. For a moment, Matsuda wondered what was happening on the other side of the mirror. He couldn't imagine how Light would take the news that this girl he cared about had killed people with less thought than she put into her selection of a handbag each day.

Thinking of Light reminded him . . . there was one more test he could apply, just to make sure that Misa really was the second Kira. "Uh, Misa Misa? Why don't we talk about something else for a while?"

Misa did not answer immediately, but she relaxed a little. Encouraged, Matsuda soldiered on. "How about L?" he improvised. "I was reading an article in this magazine the other day, where it talked about who L could possibly be. It seems like everyone has a theory these days. Do you?"

* * *

Light had to remind himself to breathe. This was the opening he had been waiting for, but he could not let L or his father see how tense he was.

In the interrogation room, Misa turned back to Matsuda with a tiny smile, as if to suggest that they were friends again. _"L is none of my business, because I'm not the second Kira. I only think about things that I want to think about, like my work and my boyfriend Light."_

Light suppressed a groan at Misa's stupidity. Then he wondered if she had simply forgotten L's real name. He wracked his brain trying to remember if he had ever told Misa to remember it.

Matsuda seemed to have decided to let Misa lead the conversation for a while. _"You really love Light, don't you?"_

" _Duh! How could I not? He's so strong and handsome, and –"_

" _And he's waiting for you right outside this room!"_

For just a moment, Light knew what his victims felt like at the moment that he killed them. His heart seemed to explode in his chest from the shock. Fortunately, his father and L seemed just as surprised at the sudden turn in the conversation.

* * *

Matsuda gave a tiny sigh of relief as Misa's expression changed to one of utter delight. "Really? He is so sweet! Light is going to come and take me away from this horrible little room, Mr. Detective Matsuda!"

"Yes, he is." And then, inspiration struck. "In fact, I spoke with him before I came in to speak with you. He told me all about the hot date he had planned for you two this evening. And he said that the sooner you tell me everything you know, the sooner he can take you out on the town." Matsuda hardly dared to breathe after he told that story. He hoped it sounded plausible.

Misa frowned in confusion. "Light said that?"

Matsuda took the opening and ran with it. "Yes. Light said that. He's waiting right outside – he's so close that he can see you and hear every word you say – and he wants you to tell the whole truth about yourself and Kira."

It would be a blow to Light, but Matsuda had no doubt that the boy would be strong enough to get over the shock in time, and he would have no trouble finding another girlfriend. Perhaps he might even allow Matsuda to advise him on how to deal with his broken heart, a subject with which Matsuda fancied that he had a certain amount of experience.

* * *

Light could not tear his eyes away from the tinted glass, and his own heartbeat thundered in his ears. Misa could not possibly be stupid enough to fall for the lie that Matsuda had just told her, could she?

He watched as Misa considered the request. Then she looked straight at the glass, as if she had figured out that it was a mirror only on her side. Her eyes, filled with love and admiration, met Light's for an instant. And then she began to speak.

Light sat frozen in pure horror, his skin numb and tingling from shock, as Misa told Matsuda the entire story, beginning with her parents' death and Kira's revenge, her discovery of her Death Note, her transformation into the second Kira and her search for the original. She spoke of how she had found Light by using her shinigami eyes, and revealed her love for him and her hopes to rule his new utopia by his side. She even began to explain to a stunned and silent Matsuda how the Death Notes worked, but Light could not bear to listen any more.

A soft gasp from his side caught his attention, and he turned to see his father gazing at him with a terrible expression of crushed betrayal and disappointment. A dreadful taste filled Light's mouth, and he found that he could not bear to look his father in the face. So this was what shame felt like. He turned away, only to be met with L's blank, wide-eyed stare.

"Well," L said. "Now I know. I know that Miss Amane is the second Kira, I know how she kills, and my suspicions about Light have been confirmed. It seems as though this interrogation was a good idea after all." He leaned forward and pressed the intercom button. "I think we've heard enough, Detective Matsuda."

Light watched as Matsuda rose and moved around the table to handcuff Misa and inform her that she was officially under arrest for murder. The sight spurred him to action. If he ran now, he might be able to get to his notebook in time to contain the damage. He tried to rise, but his father's heavy hand on his shoulder held him in place.

"Chief Yagami," L said, "it seems that we have a suspect right here. Are you capable of arresting your own son?"

Yagami was silent for a moment. "No," he admitted at last.

"I see." L rose, and opened the door into the main police station. "Detective Aizawa," he called. "Please come in and arrest Light Yagami for murder. Misa Amane has just confessed to being the second Kira, and has also identified Light as the original."

Aizawa hurried into the observation room and roughly pulled Light's arms behind his back. As he snapped the handcuffs on Light's wrists, Matsuda escorted Misa out of the interrogation room. Misa took in the scene of Light being arrested as Yagami watched in furious disbelief. Light could see the transformation on her face as Misa realized that not only had she been tricked into confessing her activities, but that her confession and its results had taken Light by surprise as well. She flashed him a glare of contempt, then tossed her head and refused to look back at him as Matsuda marched her away.


	3. Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **3\. Confession**

**3\. Confession**

* * *

The remainder of the day and the night that Light spent in a cell in the detention center were not nearly as unpleasant as he had feared. He had harbored no illusions that he would be allowed to go home on bail after his arrest, but he had been mildly nervous about spending the night in jail all the same. It was hardly a luxury hotel room, of course, but it was clean, the toilet and sink functioned, and there were no bugs or mysterious stains in the thin mattress. The food was plain but edible, and Light was surprised to find that, even after the shock of being arrested, he was still hungry when evening came.

"Well, why should you be surprised? You're still an adolescent male human, right? I thought that eating was just one of the things that adolescent male humans did."

And, of course, there was Ryuk. The shinigami had kept Light company for much of the evening. Admittedly, it hadn't been very good company, as Ryuk's conversation consisted mostly of mocking Light for having built such an elaborate plan only to see it destroyed by what had turned out to be its weakest link, but at least it had been conversation. At least Light had not been bored. That would truly have been unbearable.

Ryuk hadn't spent the entire time with Light, having stepped out around mid-day to go and watch the police search Light's room at home. He seemed to have found this process enormously amusing, and had bounced all over the cell with laughter as he described the look on L's face when he had touched the notebook and had seen Ryuk for the first time.

Light found this story rather less than amusing, since it meant that L had managed to bypass the booby traps he had set up in his desk to guard the notebook. He wondered how L had done it, what weakness he had exploited. Then he decided that it was no use wondering. He would have to find out some other time.

* * *

In the morning, a masked police officer came to Light's cell and informed him that he was to be questioned. Light did not resist as the officer handcuffed him and escorted him up the stairs into the police station. As they passed through the doors and moved toward the special interrogation room, Light considered the irony of walking the same path as a prisoner that Misa had taken, only a day after he had watched her as one of the investigators. The thought roused no emotion in him, and he decided not to pursue it.

The officer led him into the interrogation room, motioned for him to sit, then removed the handcuffs and left. Light rubbed his wrists and tried to imagine the group that would assemble in the room behind the mirror. Would his father watch his interrogation? Would L? Who would interrogate him? Surely they would not allow Matsuda to do the job, not after he had admitted to consulting Light before Misa's interrogation. Light decided that Aizawa was the most likely candidate. Aizawa had a certain amount of experience with interrogation, and Light knew that Aizawa was not his friend in the same way that Matsuda considered himself to be.

The choice of Aizawa seemed so sensible that Light was genuinely surprised when L walked into the interrogation room carrying a shopping bag and a tape recorder. "Hello, Light!" L said, sounding almost cheerful. He took a bun and a carton of tea out of the shopping bag and slid them across the table to Light. "This seemed to work for Matsuda, so I thought I'd give it a try. I hope green tea is okay with you?"

"Fine." Light hadn't had breakfast yet, and although his pride put up a good fight against his hunger, his hunger won quickly. He tried not to taste the food as he ate and drank, telling himself that it was only fuel for his final showdown against L. L seemed not to notice the gravity of the moment, as he arranged a binder full of documents on the table and fiddled with the tape recorder.

"I think this is working," L said. "Shall we begin?"

"How? Who's doing the interrogation?"

L nibbled on his thumbnail and smiled a little. "I am."

Despite everything, Light had to laugh at that. "L, that's ridiculous! You know as well as I do that only a police officer can conduct an interview here."

L's smile broadened. "Then I guess you can congratulate me. I'm a police officer now. A deputy officer, at least."

This was an interesting development. "What? How -?"

"I really didn't think that any of the police would be able to get any information out of you, so I discussed it with your father and with Watari. Watari pulled some strings – I think he mentioned his friend Pennyworth's employer, but that's not really important – and I was sworn in last night."

Light couldn't believe that fate had handed him such a chance, but he was not about to throw it away. "Really? I don't believe you. I want to see the oath that you signed."

"So you can find out my name and use it to kill me?" L sighed. "I think not. Really, I'm disappointed in you, Light. You should know better than that."

In a way, Light almost agreed with that, but he was certainly not about to say so to L. But he was in a dangerous situation, and it had seemed a minor risk worth taking.

L climbed onto the other chair at the table and fiddled with the tape recorder again. When he had adjusted it to his satisfaction, he turned to Light and nodded. "State your name."

"No."

L sighed. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Considering the statement we got from Miss Amane yesterday and the physical evidence in this binder, I really would advise you to take the easy way. Just state your name. The harder questions come later on."

"What evidence have you got in that binder, L?"

"I'll tell you only if you state your name. Trust me, it's enough to convict you anyway."

Light snickered. "Without a confession? No prosecutor would touch the case, especially not one as high-profile as Kira."

"Maybe not in Japan," L replied. "But Japan isn't the only country that could try you for murder. Remember Ray Penbar? He was an FBI agent, an American citizen. And the Americans would try you even without a confession, just on the strength of this evidence alone. Do you really want to risk going to an American prison?"

Light considered the question. It was possible that L was bluffing, of course. He tried to think back over his course in introduction to international law, but could not remember any lesson on extradition agreements between Japan and the United States. He closed his eyes, and tried to picture the course syllabus in his mind. With a small jolt of horror, he realized that the lesson on extradition treaties was today.

"I know what you're thinking." L's voice broke Light's concentration. "But the Kira case is something special, and both the Japanese and American governments agree on that. The Americans would ask for your extradition, and the Japanese would allow it, even though you're a minor. But you could save all that time and paperwork."

Light raised his eyebrows delicately, silently inviting L to continue.

"State your name and cooperate with this interview," L said. "It'll work out to the same thing in the end."

Frantically, Light tried to think of a way out of this trap. He supposed he could call for a lawyer, but what lawyer would come to the side of a Kira suspect? And how would he be able to trust any lawyer who would do that? L seemed quite confident of his guilt already, and from what Ryuk had said last night, L had found and touched the notebook, so it would be that much harder to bluff him. And there was the threat of being extradited to America, as well.

So much depended on the contents of L's binder. If he could just sneak a quick peek . . . Light reached across the table, but L was faster. He seized Light's wrist and squeezed it just hard enough to move a few bones, a hint at what might come next.

"You don't get to see the binder until you state your name," L said, and pressed a little harder on Light's wrist for emphasis.

Light gritted his teeth. Sometimes, he decided, it was better to sacrifice a battle in order to win the war. "My name is Light Yagami."

"Thank you." L released Light's wrist. Light pulled his hand back and massaged it under the table, where L couldn't see.

L fixed Light with his unblinking stare. "Light Yagami, you are accused of being the murderer popularly known as Kira. We have evidence against you in the form of a confession from your accomplice, Misa Amane, and the murder weapon in the form of a notebook. I have photocopies of the notebook's pages if you want to review them yourself."

"Let me see that!"

L slid the binder across the table, and Light opened it. To his shock, it did contain photocopies of every page he had written in the notebook.

"We will, of course, hire an expert to confirm that the handwriting in the notebook is yours," L went on, and Light silently cursed himself for not having thought to experiment with typing in the notebook. He considered his next move, and decided that it was time for a counterattack.

"You couldn't possibly have gotten this notebook from my desk, L," he said with a confident little laugh. "This has to be a fake. My desk is . . . secured."

"Yes, I thought you would have secured the notebook," L said. "I would have done the same thing. It's the only sensible thing to do. And since I knew that you would secure it, I checked for traps when I searched your desk. It didn't take me too long to figure out how to spring the trap, although I'm afraid that your desk is probably ruined."

"Even if you did get this from my desk, how could you possibly call it a murder weapon? It's just names written in a notebook."

L appeared to consider this, then shook his head. "No. It isn't. It's names of people who are now verifiably dead, along with the exact time and conditions of their deaths."

"Which I – which someone could have written after they died! This could simply be a record of Kira's activities."

"Plausible. Except that the notes about the conditions of death include details that even the Kira Task Force didn't know. Only Kira himself could have written this notebook. And by the way –" L's face split into an ugly grin, "thank you for admitting that you could have been the one to write the names into the notebook."

Light cursed himself again. The confinement and discomfort seemed to be getting to him. His voice cracked as he tried his next gambit. "What judge could believe that a notebook could be a murder weapon?"

"Any judge who touches the notebook - which we will introduce into the courtroom, naturally - and sees the shinigami who owned it, as I have done."

"Hey, kid!" As if on cue, Ryuk poked his head through the wall and waved. "Just thought I'd say hi. I'm enjoying seeing if you can get yourself out of this mess –"

"Ryuk," L said, "No one except the detainee and the interrogator may be in this room."

"Whoops! Okay, sorry. See you, Light!" And Ryuk vanished.

Light had to laugh at that little display. "L, you can't just go around showing a shinigami to a courtroom full of people. You'd cause a panic. And anyway," he added, "do you really think that a shinigami would be allowed to testify in court?"

L shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think anyone has ever asked that question before. It would be an interesting legal problem, no doubt about that. But I don't think I'd have to ask. The notebook has rules that clearly describe its function. Just seeing the shinigami would convince a judge of the notebook's supernatural origins, and that might be enough to establish it as a murder weapon." He paused, then gave a quirky little half-smile. "You see, the odds truly are against you. I have quite a bit of patience, but it would be much easier for all of us if you were to confess now."

Light sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. He glared at L and held his tongue. L was right; Light had already said far too much. His only hope now lay in the fact that he had not yet made a formal confession. The police could not hold him forever. He had already taken into account the fact that a judge would most likely agree to extend his detention period, but that could only be done twice. And then Light would be free, and he could find out L's name and kill him. All he had to do was wait it out.

The plan seemed acceptable to L, too, for he hunkered down on his chair quite comfortably. There was no clock in the interrogation room, and no window except the one-way mirror. There was no way to tell how long the interview had lasted, but Light had faith that his father or another ranking police officer would intervene when it was time to stop for the day. Satisfied, Light allowed his brain to slip into a trance, contemplating the eternity of the moment.

* * *

Light didn't know how long he and L sat there, silent and unmoving, neither one quite able to meet the other's eyes. He was only aware of the passage of time because he began to grow hungry again. The bun and the tea hadn't been very much, after all. He wondered how long ago he had eaten them. Perhaps L would want a meal soon, and would offer to bring some food back for Light. Of course, it would probably be some kind of creamy layer cake with strawberries, but that would be better than nothing. But L made no indication of hunger or discomfort. He just crouched in his chair, stiff and unblinking.

Light allowed his gaze to drift to the one-way mirror. He wondered if his father was still sitting behind it, observing his still, silent battle with L. The small part of Light that had not yet been completely consumed by Kira wondered what his father thought about the interrogation. Did he believe his son to be guilty of mass murder, or did he still hold out some thin thread of hope that Light would be set free? At that moment, Light had to admit to himself that he didn't know which he would prefer to be true.

"It must be difficult." L's soft voice broke the silence and startled Light a little bit.

"What's difficult?" Light had a hard time keeping the irritation out of his voice.

"Losing."

"I wouldn't know. I haven't lost yet."

"Perhaps," L said with a shrug. "Not the final round, at least. But Kira has lost most of the recent preliminary contests."

"I – Kira can afford to lose them." Again, Light cursed himself silently. He decided that he was suffering from low blood sugar, but he could not bring himself to ask L for food.

L raised an eyebrow but did not comment on Light's slip. "Kira has lost an important ally in Miss Amane," he said. "I don't believe that he ever cared for her as much as she cared for him, but I think that Kira enjoyed controlling Miss Amane. And then, how quickly Kira lost that control."

Light forced an arrogant laugh. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, it didn't take too much to get Miss Amane to confess, did it?" L replied. "A cheap snack and a conversation with Matsuda, of all people, and she told the whole story. It looks like Kira didn't have as much control over her as he thought he did."

"Misa Amane is an airheaded idiot," Light said. "She didn't have the common sense to keep her mouth shut."

L appeared to give this sentiment due consideration. "No," he decided. "She isn't an idiot. Obviously, her intellect isn't in the same category as yours or mine, but she isn't as stupid as you think she is. In fact, you got to the heart of the matter when you suggested interrogating her here in the first place."

Light's heart started to beat a little faster at the thought that L might be about to expose an unanticipated fatal flaw in his plan. "What do you mean?"

"You said that she thrives on attention, and that having Watari question her under secure conditions would simply feed her vanity. But when Matsuda played the part of her friend, she fell for it. She responded quite well to the attention that he gave her. Perhaps you were so busy with . . . other activities that you lost control of Miss Amane through neglect. Relationships are so hard to maintain," he added, with just a slight tinge of smug satisfaction in his voice.

"How would you know?" Light snapped. "I bet you've never had a girlfriend. You don't even know how to behave normally in public. I've heard the other students at the university talking about what a misfit you are. You're the inferior one, Ryuzaki! Your intellect may be a match for mine, but you can't even show your face to the world. I can go out in the open, I can have a girlfriend. Two, even. Don't think I haven't caught you noticing Kiyomi Takada. She'd do anything for me, not you."

"I wonder," L said, as calmly as ever. "Would Miss Takada still admire you so much if she saw you screaming at me now?"

"She won't have to know," Light snarled. "Soon you won't exist any more. You're exactly the type of misfit that I – that Kira wants to eliminate from the world. Without misfits like you, there wouldn't be any crime! You're no match for me, Ryuzaki! I'm going to win! I always win!"

The door to the interrogation room opened, and Chief Yagami entered, a look of mingled rage and disappointment on his face. "Light. That's enough."

It was the same stern tone he had used when Light had been naughty as a child, and Light immediately fell silent. L and Yagami said nothing, but allowed the weight of the silence to sink into Light's mind. As his temper cooled, he realized what he had said, and the bottom dropped out of his world.

"I did it, didn't I?" he asked no one in particular, struggling against nausea. "I – I said that . . . I equated myself with . . . I revealed . . . I'm Kira. That was a confession, wasn't it?"

Yagami stared at Light, and his expression was almost too terrible for Light to bear. "Yes," he said quietly. "You've said enough to convince even the most conservative prosecutor. You've confessed to being the mass murderer called Kira."

Black spots danced before Light's eyes, and he could hardly hear anything over the ringing in his ears. "I'm . . . Kira?" he gasped, and he could not tell whether he was laughing or crying as he said it. "I'm Kira. Yes! I'm Kira, and I'm going to be the god of the new world! There won't be any more crime or any more war. People will worship me for keeping them safe. You'll see. The new age of Kira is going to be the best thing that ever happened to this miserable world."

L sighed, and clicked the tape recorder off. "No, Light. You're just a human. I've seen a shinigami, and you can't compete. You're nothing but a common murderer, Light. Detective Aizawa!"

Aizawa must have been waiting in the observation room, for he entered immediately upon L's command, and cuffed Light's hands behind his back.

"Chief Yagami, you have my sincerest apologies," L said. "I'd hoped that I was wrong about your son."

"No," Yagami said. "A murderer. Not my son."

There was an awkward silence at that remark. Finally, L nodded.

"Go home, Chief Yagami," he said. "I think we can handle things from here."

"I'll get Mogi to call the prosecutor," Aizawa said. "And then I'll take Light down to the detention cells. He'll be treated well, Chief."

"I – thank you, Aizawa." Yagami did not spare a single glance at Light as he turned and left the interrogation room.

Aizawa made sure that Light's hands were firmly cuffed, and marched him out a few minutes later.

* * *

L sat alone in the interrogation room for a long time after the detectives had left. He looked around at the small, plain room, with nothing but an intercom and a one-way mirror for security. It was amazing, he thought, that such an exposed place could have produced such a breakdown in a person as composed as his friend Light Yagami. That was definitely something to remember for next time.

All of a sudden, L's nose began to sting, and his vision grew blurry and liquid. He blinked his eyes, and felt moisture on his face as his vision cleared.

Well. It seemed that he had uncovered another of the interrogation room's weaknesses. Clearly, there must be some sort of mold in the air, giving him an allergic reaction. He would have to speak to the police about that. L wiped his eyes, picked up the tape recorder, and left the interrogation room, shutting the door behind him.


	4. Castigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **4\. Castigation**

**4\. Castigation**

* * *

Light stared dully at the bowl of watery miso soup and the cup of tea that sat on the breakfast tray in front of him. It was the same breakfast that had appeared every day for the past six years. Neither one looked particularly appealing, but at least he was still alive to be disgusted. After six years on Death Row, Light supposed that his priorities had shifted at least a little bit.

Once, sometimes twice a year, the guards who patrolled the detention center after breakfast would stop in front of a cell and take its inmate away to be executed. By coincidence, an execution had taken place shortly after Light had been sentenced and transferred to this detention center. The prisoner had started screaming as soon as the guards had stopped in front of his door, and he had continued to scream even as he was taken away. Light had never admitted to anyone, not even Ryuk, how much those screams had frightened him. The next morning, he had eaten all of his breakfast with great relish out of sheer joy at still being alive. That had been the last time that he had truly enjoyed eating.

"Hey, Light," Ryuk said, from his perch on the sink, "it's not going to change into anything else. You going to eat it, or what?"

Light scowled at Ryuk, and drank the lukewarm tea in one long swallow. He set the cup back on the tray just as the guards entered the cell block to collect the remains of breakfast. The window in Light's cell opened, and a gloved hand reached in to take the tray. Then the window shut, and Light and Ryuk were alone in the cell. They waited until the guards had removed the trays, then sat silently through the morning patrol, as all the prisoners did. The footsteps did not stop, and Light allowed himself to relax. There would be no execution today.

Once the morning rituals had concluded, there was nothing left to do. Light picked up a novel, flipped through a few pages absently, then set it down. Because of the nature of his crime, he was not permitted any books from outside, and could only select reading material from the warden's library. Unfortunately, the warden's taste ran to cheap, badly written romances, and not even the boredom of Death Row could pique Light's interest in those stories.

At least he had Ryuk, a piece of fortune that surprised him, but that he did not question. Ryuk spent most of his time complaining or talking about apples, but he did provide another voice and a conversation partner. Light had heard other prisoners slowly going insane from the stress and isolation, and he was grateful even for the dubious relief of having a shinigami at his side.

"Why are you still here?" he asked Ryuk. "More to the point, why am I still here? You said that you would write my name in the notebook one day. Why haven't you done it yet?"

Ryuk cackled. "That's a good question. I ask it myself sometimes. Life is so dull here."

"Well? Why haven't you killed me yet?"

"I don't know. You're still appealing your case, aren't you? Maybe they'll let you go."

Now it was Light's turn to give a snort of mirthless laughter. "I wouldn't bet on it. They won't overturn Kira's sentence. Mother is wasting her money on that lawyer she hired."

Ryuk shrugged. "Well, maybe I'm just sticking around to see your execution. I've never seen how they do that. Might be interesting. It's been pretty interesting keeping up with your trial and everything after that, anyway."

That last comment made Light angry enough that he picked up the novel and ostentatiously buried his nose in it. He did not like to remember his trial, which had been swift and merciless, nor the aftermath, which had included his father's suicide the day after Light had been sentenced to death. He had only learned of the event after the fact, when his mother had written a shaky, tear-blurred letter that had described how Chief Yagami had tendered his resignation from the NPA, gone home, written his will, and hanged himself with his necktie.

Yagami's suicide had been sensationalized in the press with headlines calling him Kira's final victim, and Sayu had been teased so much that their mother had taken her out of school. Light had been surprised at how much this news had shaken him, and he had been further horrified when his mother insisted on spending the family's savings on a new lawyer to appeal Light's case. The lawyer had not had any success thus far, but continued to appeal, condemning Light to years of waiting in isolation for a death that could come at any moment.

Shortly after lunch, which Light did not eat, a guard stopped in front of his cell. "You have a visitor, Yagami," he said.

Light stood up on shaky legs, and allowed the guard to cuff his hands behind his back. A second guard joined them, and the little party marched down the corridor to the visiting room, where Light's mother waited for him

Light guessed that it must be early September. His mother did not visit often, but when she did, it was usually in early September or early January. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw her son. Light sat awkwardly in one of the folding chairs in the visitation room, and the guards took up their posts at the door.

"Light," his mother said. "It's so good to see you. Are you holding up well? You look thin."

Light shrugged. "The food here isn't your cooking." He did not mention how frail his mother had become. At least he had bad prison food as an excuse.

"I've found a tutor for Sayu," his mother said. "She might be able to sit her university entrance exams this year. Perhaps I can send her off to university abroad. I've looked into universities in America with ties to Japan – there's one called Amherst that seems small enough and private enough. She could start over there . . . oh, but I'm babbling. I have news for you."

"If this is about my appeals –"

"It is. Oh, Light, our lawyer has managed to get the high court to hear your case. We might even be able to get a retrial with a jury, since they're legal now. Isn't that wonderful?"

Light suppressed a groan. A jury of his peers was the last thing Kira needed. "Brilliant. How will you manage to send Sayu off to this Amway place if you've spent all your money on these endless appeals?"

"I'll manage somehow." Light's mother made a brave little smile for her son. "I have to admit, I'm terribly nervous. It's the last appeal, and I've heard that the government has put a new prosecutor on the case. I think his name is Mikami; he's supposed to be very young, but very good. Oh, Light, I hope we won't lose this one, too. . . " She began to cry, and one of the guards helped her to stand and ushered her out of the door. After she was gone, the guards returned Light to his cell.

* * *

So the months passed by. Light heard nothing about the progress of his final appeal, but it did not take an intellect of his caliber to guess what the outcome would be. The only question was when it would fail.

Sometimes Light wondered whether Misa was still alive. She had also drawn the death penalty, and had enjoyed a few days' worth of media attention for being young, pretty, female, and doomed to die. Light was fairly sure that she was not being held in the same detention center as he was. He guessed that she was probably in a facility designed to accommodate female prisoners. Her model's looks had probably faded by now, and she had probably gone mad from the isolation and lack of human contact. He couldn't rouse himself to feel much sympathy for her, since Rem was presumably still around protecting her as much as possible.

Winter came, and the cell grew chilly. Light spent most of his time wrapped in a blanket, occasionally doing jumping jacks when he thought that the guards would not catch him at it. The food remained bad, and the selection of novels from the warden's library remained boring. Even Ryuk's sniping began to lose its charm.

Even so, Light was surprised at the sudden surge of relief he felt when the guards' footsteps stopped outside his cell after breakfast one morning. The day of his death had arrived, and even if he never saw another day, at least he could end his life with a break from the eternal routine of the detention center.

* * *

"Yagami!" the guard said. "Your time has come."

For a moment, Light stood frozen in disbelief. It was actually happening. Six years after he had inflicted death on so many people, he was now about to experience it for himself. His stomach gave a nervous flutter, and he was suddenly glad that he had not drunk the miso soup this morning.

The guard tapped his foot impatiently. "Tidy your cell, and be quick about it."

Light complied, straightening his bedding and setting his last romance novel on the end of the bed for a guard to collect . . . afterwards. Ryuk hung from the ceiling and cackled with glee. Of course. He had claimed from the beginning that he was not Light's friend, and would eventually see him die.

"You're finally getting your wish, aren't you, Ryuk?" Light muttered. Ryuk ignored him.

"Yagami! No chatter." The guard gave the cell a brief inspection, then motioned to his partner. The two of them took Light's arms and walked him out of the cell and down the corridor. Ryuk floated just behind them, invisible to everyone but Light. Light glanced at the other cell doors and imagined the prisoners behind them, pathetically grateful that they were not the ones selected to die today, that they had been granted yet another day of meaningless existence.

Before he could stop it, a peal of hysterical laughter bubbled out of him. "Fools!" he yelled, enjoying the sensation of yelling after so many years of near-silence. "Fools! You're all pathetic fools, withering away in your cells. I lived! I was Kira, I would have been the god of the new world! I was the master of death!"

"Yagami!" The guard's stinging slap stunned Light into silence. "Be quiet. Don't disturb the other prisoners."

They left the detention area and walked through a series of long, featureless corridors. At last, they came to a long staircase with a single door at the top. There was only one place that this staircase could lead. Light's legs had grown weak after six years in confinement, and he had to lean heavily on the guards in order to ascend the stairs.

He was led into a small antechamber with a curtain separating it from what had to be the larger execution chamber. The antechamber contained a desk and a chair, and a small man in a robe with a face like bean paste stood nearby.

"Do you wish a moment of prayer?" the man asked. Light stared at him blankly and shook his head. He had never cared much for any faith, and he could not imagine asking a favor of a god, he who had come so close to becoming a god himself. The priest withdrew behind the curtain.

The head guard indicated that Light was to sit at the desk. "You can write a final letter if you so desire," he said.

Light's head snapped up at that. He could not believe his luck. Here, at the brink of death, he had one last chance to live, to pass judgment on the world that had dared to judge him. He glanced around and spotted Ryuk hovering nearby. Ryuk had the notebook; Light was sure of it. All he had to do was summon the strength to leap up and grab it. The element of surprise would be on his side. Neither the guards nor Ryuk would be expecting this.

But just as Light tensed his muscles in preparation for his leap, the guard's heavy hand descended on his shoulder. "We know about you, Yagami," he said. "You will use paper and a pencil that we provide."

He set a sheet of foolscap and a pencil down on the desk in front of Light. Light could not suppress a sigh. Ryuk snickered.

Light stared at the paper, unsure of what he might want to say or to whom he could say it. He would have written to his father, but his father was dead. There was no point in writing to Misa, for even if she was alive, she would not be allowed to receive a communication from her former partner in crime. He could not imagine writing to any of his old schoolmates. And, to his mild surprise, Light realized that he had nothing in particular to say to his mother or Sayu. Possibly he had never had anything to say to them.

Just as he began to fear that his time for writing was up, an idea struck him. There was one person with whom Light still had unfinished business. He picked up the pencil and began to scribble a note.

 _Today I die, the executioner known as Kira and the man called Light Yagami. The victory is yours. But your victory is imperfect. You didn't win; I lost. Your detective skills contributed nothing to the solution. The mistake was mine, and therefore, the victory cannot be to your credit. Remember Kira the next time that the police ask for your help on a case. You're not invincible. You never were._

 _Light Yagami_

Light's hands shook a little as he folded the note and handed it to the guard. "This is for the detective known as L," he said. "You can give it to Detective Aizawa of the NPA; he'll know how to get in touch with L."

The guard nodded gravely, almost as if he were a servant taking orders from a master, and tucked the letter away in his pocket.

"Do you wish to write a will?" he asked.

Light shook his head. He had no possessions or property worth the disposal. His mother and Sayu had probably sold his clothes and his computer in order to pay for his lawyer, and Light owned nothing else.

"Rise, Yagami," the guard said.

With a last glance at Ryuk's eternal, meaningless grin, Light rose to his feet. One guard laid hands upon him, and another produced a simple white cotton blindfold.

At the sight of the blindfold, something shattered inside Light. The realization crashed down on him that this dingy room with its cheap furniture was the last thing that he would ever see. He would never look on the execution chamber, never see the noose that he knew was waiting for him, or be able to look into the eyes of his executioners as they pressed the buttons to release the trapdoor beneath his feet. The drab monotony of his cell, with its endless succession of bad romance novels and worse food, suddenly seemed like a paradise, and Light wanted nothing more than to be allowed to return to it. He wouldn't even ask for release, he would be content with his cell, if only –

"No!" he cried, his voice cracking with the stress of the moment. "No, not the blindfold! Don't come near me with that! I want to see, I want to see, please don't take my eyes away!"

Sheer animal terror gave Light the strength to twist and squirm and fight the guards, who tried to wrestle his arms behind his back for the handcuffs.

"Fools! Idiots! You can't kill me like this!" he screamed. "You're . . . you're worse than Kira! Kira was swift, he was merciful, they never felt a thing, he didn't blindfold them!"

The blindfold neared his face again, and Light twisted his head away, his panicked gaze falling on Ryuk. "Ryuk, help me! Stop them and give me back the notebook! I promise, I can show you even more interesting things to do with it, just make them let me go!"

Ryuk chuckled. "Heh. Sorry, Light. You're on your own. All humans must die, and your time has come. But, hey, if it makes you feel any better, I'll go into the room with you."

Bleak as it was, the offer provided some small comfort, and Light stopped struggling. The handcuffs clamped around his wrists, cold and sharp, and then the blindfold came, the soft, cool cotton against his face shutting his eyes and bringing darkness.

Firm, businesslike hands turned Light around, and he heard the gentle swish of a curtain being pulled aside. The hands led him forward, and his feet shook as he put one in front of the other, moving across a strange floor that he could not see.

The walk was not very far at all, and when they stopped, Light could feel the slight air currents of a somewhat larger room than he had been in before. Two of the guards held him still, while another knelt down to bind his legs together. A voice started to chant, and Light remembered the priest he had sent away.

"Ryuk?" he asked quietly. "Are you still there?"

After a moment, he heard the rustle of wings, a sound that shinigami did not always make. "Right here, Light," the raspy voice said. "I've got the Death Note open now, and I'm getting my pen."

"I don't want to die."

"Too bad, kid. You should have thought of that before you picked up my notebook. I told you that I'd write your name in it one day."

The guard finished tying his feet, and Light shifted his weight a little to find his balance. The hands on his shoulders shifted, and something scratchy brushed his face. With a sudden thrill of horror, he realized that it was the noose. The rope passed over his chin and settled around his neck. One of the guards adjusted it with a jerk, pulling it tight so that the knot lay heavy against Light's ear. Then the hands went away, and Light was alone, only the noose around his neck connecting him to the world.

Voices came faintly to Light's ears, and he thought that there must be a partition somewhere in the room. Perhaps the executioners were conferring behind a window. The priest began to chant again, and then Light jumped as he heard the scratching of a pen. Ryuk's voice came low and menacing in his ear.

"It's been fun, Light. I learned things from you, which is more than shinigami usually get from humans. But everything comes to an end. Want to know what I've written? Light Yagami –"

The priest stopped chanting, and footsteps creaked away from Light.

" – December 25, 2012 –"

Light's heart pounded so hard that he could barely hear Ryuk.

" – at 0853 –"

Light locked his knees so that he would not collapse in front of the guards and Ryuk.

" – executed by the Japanese government for the crime of serial murder under the name of Kira!"

There was a loud thump, and a fraction of a second of weightlessness, and Light had time only for a choked half-gasp as the trapdoor opened under

* * *

END

* * *

Afterword: Many thanks to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story. Special thanks to Valmora, who urged me to write it in the first place, and provided valuable research tips.


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